Re: [GBlist] SUV, "Car Talk", off topic.

["Steve" <bpearl@rcn.com>]

The New Yorker, Sept. 2, 2002

DRIVE SMALL

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?020902ta_talk_mayer

In an unusual spurt of semi-seriousness, Tom and Ray Magliozzi (a.k.a. Click
and Clack), the wisecracking brothers and M.I.T.-educated auto mechanics who
are the hosts of the radio show "Car Talk," decided recently to launch a
political crusade of sorts, against sport-utility vehicles. "Car Talk," ...

To amplify their message, the Magliozzis teamed up with Stonyfield Farm
yogurt, an environmentally active "acidophilus conglomerate" (as they put
it, in their thick Boston accents). Together, the two brothers and the
yogurt people came up with a suitably nonconfrontational motto, "Live
Larger, Drive Smaller," which was to appear on bumper stickers and on
Stonyfield yogurt-container lids. There was a problem, however: along with
"Car Talk," the lids cited NPR, leaving the impression that the ostensibly
politically neutral news organization was involved in a controversial
advocacy campaign...

...,Ray said. He compared S.U.V.s to acne. "It's like having a zit. When you
get that first one, you don't rush out and buy the medicine. But when you
see twenty of them on your kisser you say it's time for something to be
done."

"Everyone knows that S.U.V.s are big, they block everyone's view, they get
five miles to the gallon, they roll over and kill people, and when you get
hit by one the bumper comes right in your window and takes your head off,"
Tom said.

"He's exaggerating, obviously," Ray said.

"I am a little, but not completely. It's a strange madness of crowds-a
combination of a lot of things. One is the issue of little people wanting to
be big. Little people have been little all their lives, and now they have an
opportunity to sit two feet higher than anyone else. What a deal! For a mere
thirty-five thousand bucks, you can now be tall! A guy who is five-four will
risk a pair of trousers every time he gets into one of these S.U.V.s, just
to drive a Lincoln Navigator. I mean, I went into a movie theatre the other
day and made the mistake of saying yes when the guy behind the counter said,
'You want the large soda?' This guy gave me-it must have been two gallons."

"It had wheels on it."

"Two gallons of Coca-Cola! I mean, I was peeing all night!"

"Well, the good thing is that when you're done, you got the thing to pee
into!"

It turns out that the Magliozzis are not especially fond of other types of
automobiles, either. "I do not own a car," Tom said. "I either ride a
bicycle or use public transportation."

"And believe me," Ray said. "Our fellow Massachusetts motorists are elated."

- Jane Mayer




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